It is useful to briefly describe the classes of gaming in the United States and how these classes may be implemented in a gaming network. Gaming in the United States is divided into Class I, Class II, and Class III games. Class I gaming includes social games played for minimal prizes and traditional ceremonial games. Class II gaming includes bingo and bingo-like games, such as pulltab games. Bingo includes games played for prizes, including monetary prizes, with cards bearing numbers or other designations in which the holder of the cards covers such numbers or designations when objects, similarly numbered or designated, are drawn or electronically determined, and in which the game is won by the first person covering a previously designated arrangement of numbers or designations on such cards. Class II gaming may also include pulltab games if played in the same location as bingo games, lotto, punch boards, tip jars, instant bingo, and other games similar to bingo. Class III gaming includes any games that are not Class I or Class II games, such as games of chance typically offered in non-Indian, state-regulated casinos. Many games of chance that are played on gaming terminals fall into the Class II and Class III categories of games.
Central determination gaming refers to any gaming method or system in which a central computer (a central determination system, or CDS) determines game outcomes for a group of players. Most conventional central determination systems are used for Class II gaming. In central determination gaming, players compete for a central pool of prizes. The prizes may include progressive prizes or progressive bonuses. This pool of prizes is finite, making central determination gaming similar to a lottery game. For example, an electronic game may be implemented as a central determination game, in which a number of gaming terminals are in communication with the central computer. The central computer selects games outcomes from a finite pool of outcomes to determine the prize that a player at a gaming terminal wins. The game outcome is displayed on the gaming terminals' display screens. Central determination gaming is most prevalent in New York and Washington state. Central determination gaming is described further in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/109,527, filed Apr. 18, 2005, which is herein incorporated by reference in pertinent part.